re: #16 SixDegrees

I heard this interview when it was originally broadcast. I don’t recall that Sharlet ever mentions it, but just for the sake of clarity the law doesn’t make homosexuality a capitol offense; it seeks to institute the death penalty for someone who knows they have AIDs to have sex with…someone of the same sex. So yes, it’s every bit as bad as presented in the end, and even more stupid, in fact, but it doesn’t seek to criminalize simply being gay. I was slightly miffed to learn this later, rather than from Sharlet, because in some ways this is even worse.

This is sort of whitewashing it. How I’ve read this: “under an anti-homosexuality bill currently before Uganda’s parliament. If the accused person is HIV positive or a serial offender, or a “person of authority” over the other partner, or if the “victim” is under 18, a conviction will result in the death penalty.” is that the serial offender bit means if you’re caught having too much gay sex, they give you the death penalty.

And the minimum sentence is still life imprisonment. Not for having AIDS and having gay sex. Just for having gay sex.